and as the boy stared at the goldfish....

swimming around and around  in circles....
in its confined, small bowl...
he felt tremendously sad for it......
he had named it Henri....
at the time of purchase,
he had literally begged his parents to buy a larger bowl for 'henry'....
but they had become angry....
claiming, as always,
that he "appreciated NOTHING"....
he wanted to explain to them that the larger bowl was for Henri's sake,
and had nothing to do with him or greed or anything really.....
except the desire,
the need,
to save a small, helpless fish from a life of monotony and drudgery.....
his parents were strange people.....
often times he found himself wondering whether they had
EVER LOVED ANYTHING OR ANYONE......
even each other.....
especially each other....
they lived separate lives, albeit under the same roof....
they had their meals together...
they slept in the same bed.....
but the boy could feel the space between them.....
palpable space....
and if they could care less about one another...
why on earth would they care about some stupid fish ?
tears were streaming down his face now.....
he would ultimately find a way to make life sweeter for 'henri'....